On Media

Newt: Allow applause or I'll skip

By DYLAN BYERS

01/24/2012 11:42 AM EST

Newt Gingrich told Fox this morning that he would skip future debates if the audience was not allowed to participate:

I wish in retrospect I’d protested when Brian Williams took them out of it because I think it’s wrong. And I think he took them out of it because the media is terrified that the audience is going to side with the candidates against the media, which is what they’ve done in every debate. We're going to serve notice on future debates, we won't tolerate it. We're just not going to allow it to happen. The media doesn’t control free speech. People ought to be allowed to applaud if they want to."

Of note: Should Gingrich win the nominiation, he will have to deal with a silent audience. Per the official Commission on Presidential Debates rules, audiences must "remain absolutely silent: no cheers, no applause, no noise of any kind."